Queen's Gambit
by SDoradus
Summary: Arc 2 of 8: Follows the return of the fleet to Earth. Licking wounds. Setting things in order: rebuild, and thinking about remaining Reapers in dark space. An ME Fic written a year before the "Mass Effect: Andromeda" trailer, the last arc of "Gone with the Sun" has survivors heading for Andromeda.
1. Location, location, location

Arc 2 of "Gone with the Sun" - follows Arc 1, "Eternity" (under s/11379790/1/)

"Queen's Gambit," Chapter 10: **Location, Location, Location**

* * *

 _Cosmo_ _graphically challenged_

"Right. We've taken damage, the AI is down, we're reduced to attomech systems, the thrusters are jammed, and it could be days or weeks to rig for FTL. Joker's standing by with Daniels to crack open the door with Liara, Tali, Garrus and Samara when I give the word, so it's just between alliance personnel right now. Round the horn, folks, what else do we worry about? Junior first. Traynor?"

"We're in the Arcturus stream, ma'am. EDI set the co-ordinates pre-jump, but I don't know exactly where, working memory of the navigational bench was wiped. It's come up on reset but the gamma-ray finding scopes aren't up yet."

" _Gamma_ ray scopes?"

"For finding pulsars, ma'am. Think GPS for space voyagers. Also the procedure needs some computation. We need to bring the old VI online."

"I'm familiar with the principle, Traynor, I just wasn't aware it operated in the gamma spectrum. Anyway, thank you, I think Joker might know where we are. Cortez?"

"Shuttle is down ma'am but not for the count, it's little core is safed and if I can get some parts it should be okay to go in two days. Once he's finished getting armor on, Vega is standing watch for first exit."

"It'll take longer than two days, I'm afraid – Adams, you have something to say?"

"We should have the fabs running in an hour, ma'am."

"Outstanding! Seriously, promotion for you. How?"

"Can't take credit, ma'am, it was almost the last thing EDI did, she sent Tali to organize two of the stasis projectors to be set over the fabs by Privates Westmoreland and Campbell. Step forward, kids. These two deserve some recognition, ma'am."

"Hm." Ashley looked closely. "You two bear famous names."

"Yes, ma'am. So do you ma'am _erk –_ "

"Indeed. Dr Chakwas could you please see to Corporal Westmoreland's foot. Private Campbell, you really want to watch your step. I think we can spare you from guard duty for now. Place yourself at the disposal of Mr Adams. We shall see if we can get layer-3 parts by the end of the day, and I will consider your case then. All good Doctor?"

"The foot will recover, Lieutenant Commander. Might I add that we should be cautious about sampling any potential foods from the local biosphere?"

"What's our supply situation?"

"Not bad actually, around four weeks standard and another eight reconstitution rations, but we're not well placed for dextro. Can I suggest that once Greg is finished with the fabs that I work with Tali and Liara to create a temporary CHON food vat? We'd feed it green waste from clearing around the hull. Once we have accumulated sufficient CHON substrate we could rework it for _dextro_ then _laevo_ to the extent needed."

"Excellent, Westmoreland, please assist Dr Chakwas in her endeavors. Doctor, please convey my respects to Mr Vega at the hatch and instruct Joker to proceed. You are not to exit for samples until after the biotics, and especially Dr T'Soni, have given the all-clear. Do be aware that Mr Vega has rigorous instructions concerning your safety, and Westmoreland, you are to carry sidearms. Very well, gentlefolk, any last concerns? No? _Expedite_. Traynor, a word."

…

Traynor, just slightly panicked, and Ashley, unnaturally calm, were alone now.

"So, Traynor. Why have I asked to speak with you?"

"Er… location?"

"Well done. This is a garden world."

"Yes ma'am."

"Why did I hold our little conclave with no aliens present?"

Traynor stood paralysed for a few seconds. Ashley peered at her. "You're _frightened!_ Traynor, we're alone, what are you thinking? Woman to woman."

Traynor sighed. She shouldn't have to butt heads with a Spectre and a ranking officer, but Williams seemed genuinely puzzled. "Ma'am… do you recall that little, um, bit of carelessness on Campbell's part?"

"Yes, of course."

"I guess you know that Westmoreland was referring to–"

"Yes, Traynor, but I'm beginning to be less sensitive about that, courtesy Shepard's wise counsel. Is _that_ it? People think I'm unfit for command?"

"Yes ma'am, but it's not your granddad, people think the world of you… when Shepard's giving the orders."

The _WHAT?!_ bugling forth would have been heard by Joker if the bulkhead door hadn't been closed. "Well, where does _that_ come from then!"

"Um. LC– can I say Ashley? Ash? Okay, you really shouldn't have segregated the aliens. Seriously, it's not a good look."

"But we have our own secrets!"

"Yes, but… it's not good for morale and… ask yourself please. Would Shepard have sent them off?"

There was a short pause.

"No. No, he would have at least kept Liara around. Probably Garrus, the original ship was a joint design. Except Garrus isn't fit for duty right now. But dammit, he and Liara were– I mean, they wanted to– I mean–"

"Ashley. There was only one of him."

"Don't say that!"

"What? Oh. Well there's only one of him. You know what I mean. Look, he wasn't ever going to break Alliance regs without damn good reason, which an affair is not, nor would he indulge himself with squad-mates. Even if her panties caught fire." That made Ash laugh. Good. She needed to laugh a little. But now she was crying, oh dear.

"Sorry." Ash wiped her face. "Let's address this. You're saying he would have invited them into the conclave, alien or not."

"Yes, ma'am."

"So I'm the big bad racist warmongering anti-alien witch."

"Yes, ma'am. I mean no, ma'am, but yes, ma'am."

"Stop calling me ma'am for a moment." Deep sigh. "Really?"

"Yes, ma – yes, Ashley."

"That's depressing. But _I_ don't have to trust them, surely?"

Traynor said nothing.

"What, really?"

Traynor nodded.

"Sugar. Does the whole crew think that way?"

Traynor shook her head.

"That's a relief. But poor Shep." Ashley sighed. "Silly bugger, sitting all alone in his cabin– _what_?"

Traynor said nothing, but the expression on her face was another matter.

"Dear god, not you!?"

Shocked, Traynor waved her arms in denial. "No! Some hot Cerberus chicks! One was a sort of political commissar, that was a bit problematic, the other one worked at my comm station! I never knew her!"

Ash looked scandalized, then laughed:

"God, they must have been good. No? Yes? Make up your mind, Traynor. The first one must have been Miranda Lawson, I met her on Horizon. She scares everyone except Hackett. We'll talk about her in a bit. Who was the other?"

"That was… Kelly, I can't actually recall her last name, don't know what she was there for, I get the impression she was a bit of a nonentity. All I know is from crew like Kasumi and Joker chatting, ask them. Joker was _very_ concerned about Shepard's, um, morale. He had orders to improve it. She was one of the possibilities."

"Oh. Joker you say? Never heard of her. I'll ask around. Did Shepard send her packing?"

"No. Cerberus, remember? Even Donnelly and Daniels were in super huge trouble, Shepard had to dig them out of jail."

"But he didn't dig this Kelly person out, so she ran from the law. Shepard wouldn't have been impressed–"

"Nonono. She was terribly young, even Massani and Thane liked her, she had a very bad time when the Collectors took her and the rest of the crew–"

"Right. Anyway, she absconded, they didn't."

"No. Talk to Joker. As I understand it she disappeared when the death squads were roaming the citadel."

"Oh, _f_ _udge_ _…_ I see. Poor girl. Poor _Shepard_."

"Exactly."

"Anyway, back to the aliens. This situation is different!"

"Is it?"

"Don't you see it? We're within a few hours' flight of the first relay away from Sol's Charon relay, that is, the Arcturus Prime relay, servicing what was once Arcturus station – home to the systems alliance parliament."

"Yes ma'am."

"What is strange about that?"

Traynor paused to consider. She hadn't thought it through.

"A garden world…"

"Yes, go on."

"Why hasn't it been colonized already? It's within human-controlled space…"

"Or was, yes."

"It's an absolute certainty the Parliament or Navy knew about it…"

"Keep going."

"So… if it hasn't been colonized… there's something about this place they wanted kept quiet."

"Well spotted. Do you see the dilemma?"

"I think so. You're saying this is above your pay grade?"

"Right. We'll bounce it to Hackett. He can figure out what to do."

* * *

– _Next chapter will be #11, "Va, pensiero_ _"_ _–_

* * *

Thursday, July 16, 2015


	2. Va, pensiero

Queen's Gambit, Book 1 - "Gone with the Sun"

Chapter 11 **Va, pensiero**

* * *

 _Morning Chorus_

… _fly, thought…_

The outer door clanked and hissed open to a sound of emergency gas cartridges. One more thing to fix. First of all operated by Joker, manually, with biotics and firepower in the background. Orders from Williams who in Vega's opinion was being just a little bit paranoid. Looked like a beautiful day out there. On the other hand there was no harm in playing it safe.

Liara went next. _Some sort of karst landscape._ There was even a path through deciduous trees, to waterfalls in the distance. Birds in a twilight sky. This could almost be Thessia, or Earth… except for the parent gas giant and intervening moon.

Ashley dodged past Vega, giving him a light punch on the arm and a peck on the cheek. "When do I get to go out, boss?"

"Pretty shortly, Vega. We need the crew out here stripping the vegetation away from the hull so Adams and Traynor can assess damage. Just be ready to slag anything that tries for our biotics. Any sign of predators?"

"Nothing bigger than a cat, curvy lady. But _something_ made that path to the waterfall."

"Yeah. Good instincts. I'm going out to inspect it. See ya."

That night, Daniels stood watch at engineering console one. No-one was getting a lot of sleep, Williams had imposed watch-on-watch alert status. She was quietly fuming; it felt like exclusion. She should be with Ken and Adams swapping out layer-3 nodes, but Adams insisted. ("Ms Daniels, I trust you to stay alert and not try and play an air bagpipe.") An hour after sunset, which she had been allowed to see by the waterfall, the telegraph lit. Joker came on the horn. _"Gabby, float the core please, NOW."_ If they hadn't been using telegraph Joker could have achieved the necessary fine control himself, but anyway it was done before he was finished speaking. Inertial dampeners were still offline; she felt the Normandy jump two hundred feet in twenty seconds.

"I suppose you want me to stay down here, Joker? Can you tell me what's happening?"

" _We've got a half-dozen primitive asari or similar down below, trying to reach us with biotically-impelled stone-tipped spears. Unbelievable. I've got Adams coming down to relieve you, Daniels. When he gets there come on up. Liara is bouncing. Samara, not so much._ "

 _High Tea_

… _so beautiful and lost…_

T'Soni had started out muttering to Glyph. Now she was slumped over the conference table, head on arms. She brought herself up when Daniels finished swapping out the layer-3 net links, powered up the backscreen, then touched the comm pad;

"Hey, lieutenant, can we get FLIR or something? It's a bit dark down here, just spiky black blobs."

" _FLIR's offline still Daniels, working on it, but I can bring up the photon efficiency and the VI can enhance it. Coming up."_

Daniels turned back to Liara. "Ma'am, you look terrible."

"Just call me Liara, Gabriella, I'm fine, but it's getting late. And this is just… unexpected. Another shock of many."

Ashley came in, followed by Campbell, bearing herbal tea (for Samara), hot chocolate (for Liara) and coffee (for the Alliance addicts). Daniels considered the images.

"I don't understand what's the big deal. These are just ancient asari, right?" She turned to Ashley. "LC, didn't you say the Protheans brought them here?"

"That's just my best guess, Gabby. We'll have to ask Javik when we get back. (Thank you, Corporal. Dismissed.)"

Liara stirred. "Lieutenant Commander– "

Ashley winced. "Please, Liara, you're not in the Alliance Navy and that's a bit of a mouthful. If Gabby can call me LC you can too. I was never the XO but I'm the senior ranking Alliance officer here so if Shepard gets back I'm the Number One. If he's presumed dead then I'm the captain _pro tempore_. Or just Ash. Rank's too confusing. Theoretically you're a civilian, so dispense with the rank already."

"If? Presumed?"

"Would _you_ bet that blast was survivable? He was half-synthetic himself, remember. I've already gone over this with Traynor. Before the bugout, comm chatter said he and Anderson made it to the beam. Neither Traynor nor Joker thinks anyone close lived through the flash. Donnelly extracted imagery from the rear vid and the presidium ring was shattered, there were huge chunks even taken out of the _wards_."

"Not placing any bets." Liara sipped the cup provided. Brightened. "What is this?"

"Chocolate. Courtesy Tali and team efforts on the CHON vat. Apparently a dextro version of it cheered Garrus right up. This is not normal Alliance Navy fare."

"Alright… Ash. Thank you for the… remarkably _thoughtful_ … pick-me-up." Then Liara set the cup down, said "What do _you_ think?" and Gabby thought Ashley suddenly looked very, very tired.

"My gut says… something. I can't put it in words. My head tells me he must be dead."

There was a brief gloomy moment. Joker broke in:

" _Uh guys, I've sort of been listening and, well, if that's how you feel, we need to have a little ceremony. So people can say goodbye."_

"The memorial wall, Moreau? Isn't that a bit premature?"

" _Hey, LC, we've no idea who made it out. Let's just make it three for now, OK?"_

"Well nearly everyone else quit the system before we did. We only made it by the skin of our teeth. _Normandy_ , though, is _fast_. You're thinking it caught the others?"

" _No ma'am, I don't. They would have had time to make one more jump,_ _then_ _gone FTL and hidden behind a star. We_ _left it too late_ _._ _To be exact, I did._ _If it's any consolation Adams reckons the Reapers would have been taken completely by surprise,_ _and that red thing was_ tuned _to their tech_ _, it looked as though the Arcturus Prime relay tore itself up firing at the next point. But it might have got_ some _fleet vessels_ _, and we don't know when Hackett can make it back_ _…_ "

Samara interrupted: "Could he have jumped FTL instead of using the Relay?"

" _I'm sure he did use FTL ma'am, like we did, a short jump to the Charon Relay. But a long jump? Dreadnoughts only make 14 light years in 24 hours, it would have taken an hour in FTL just to get past the Oort cloud, that red bubble would have caught up long before then. We needed distance, fast, and even so it still crippled us. The fleet's probably repairing damage just like us, and they didn't have EDI thinking ahead."_

"Okay," said Ash. "So in the morning we wave our comrades goodbye."

" _Yes, ma'am. At least_ _EDI,_ _Anderson and Shepard. Then we fix the thrusters and get the hell_ _off this benighted rock_ _."_

"Look, where are we exactly?" Samara was upset about something.

"I don't rightly know, myself. But we have identified Arcturus. I imagine Joker can head there and we can get our bearings. Second star to the right, and on till morning kind of thing. Why?"

"We need to inform… someone in charge on Thessia. Immediately."

Daniels stared. "Ma'am. Liara. That's hardly possible. It might not be possible for hundreds of years."

 _Marooned_

… _these fables of fugitive times…_

Samara dropped a teaspoon. "I'm sorry, Ms Daniels, could you please explain?"

Daniels hadn't expected this. Surely it was blindingly obvious? Joker came to the rescue:  
" _Uh, Samara, if the images of the Arcturus Prime relay are any guide, all relays are… if not smashed, at least non-functional. And if you run the numbers for FTL_ _…_ _"_

Ashley chimed in: "Ms Daniels is used to anticipating the effect of numerical results, Justicar."

"Samara, please Ms Williams. I regret her point escapes me."

"Surely you have read of the distance scales involved, ma'am? I imagine that Liara is considering the matter right now."

Liara nodded, looking as though she had swallowed a lemon. Daniels sat down at the table and tried to explain:

"Ma'am– Samara. This is an exceptionally fast ship but we still make only fourteen light years in one solar day. A dreadnought might go fractionally faster. This galaxy is so vast there's no way we can get to Thessia in months, even. The sun is, what Joker? Thirty thousand light years from the galactic centre?"

" _Marginally less."_

"So it would take us, um, about two thousand days to get there. Maybe six years. About the same amount of time to get to Thessia–"

" _Probably longer."_

"–right, we'd need supplies. Our QECs are down. With comm buoys dead too, it might be decades before we can get any kind of instructions back. It's worse than the days of empires linked by sail, back on Earth."

Samara stirred, put down her own teacup, and declared:  
"I do see. Then it is vital that we mark this place with a beacon."

Liara nodded. Ashley sat back (suddenly _'_ _the captain of the ship_ _'_ , realized Daniels), demanding:  
"Justicar, what are your intentions?"

"Creatures of the night winds", breathed Samara– a phrase incomprehensible to Gabby.

"Beg your pardon, ma'am?" Samara shivered, turned to Daniels:

"Those _creatures_ below. One day we must return to kill them all."

* * *

– _Next chapter will be #12, "Faith_ _"_ _–_

* * *

Wednesday, July 15, 2015


	3. Faith

Queen's Gambit, Book 1 - "Gone with the Sun"

Chapter 12 **Faith**

* * *

 _Sneaking in_

T'Soni was trying to explain Samara's attitude to Daniels that last morning, while they swapped out the nacelle control relays under the watchful gaze of Jimmy Vega.

"It's not just that they're asari, far from home, Gabby. And it's not that they're desperately dangerous. They represent a major intellectual and moral problem."

" _Well yeah. Genocide doesn't look good on the racial report card_ _."_

"Shush, Joker. Gabby, if I lever this up you can slot the card in… good. Where were we?"

"That's the last one, let's get packing. I get that they're sort of evil. But what harm are they doing here, all alone?"

Liara sighed, and stood erect alongside the wing. Gabby picked up the tools and they made their way to the door. "Closing up, folks!" said Vega.

"We _had_ thought that Ardat-Yakshi were sterile. Obviously, if you kill your lover in the act, you can't properly reproduce."

"Okay, I get that, except it's obviously not quite true. If you're the one who zaps the other guy's nervous system, and you live, and you're also the one who bears the child, you get to continue the line. Right?"

"It's not that simple – if you can't mate out-species, the AY trait is selected against. Samara once told Shepard directly, to his face, that it was an impossible breeding strategy. It was thought that the condition resulted from pureblood matings, hence the prejudice against it. That's why asari mate exogamously. Out-species. Mostly. But the existence of this group gives the lie to _that_. We've been tracking individuals from the air, at night. They generally kill their prey by something like the mating spasm."

"That sounds like a really efficient kind of predator."

"Exactly. It also explains how they survive and reproduce. Morinth, Samara's daughter, could in principle have reproduced that way, except she was in fact sterile, like all other Ardat-Yakshi. But these… primitives… are not. It seems that the Protheans quite literally uplifted all the viable subjects and… transplanted them."

"Why here?"

Liara blinked. "It's as good a place as any."

And, Gabby thought silently, it's where an expanding humanity was guaranteed to come across them. What were the Protheans _thinking_? "Okay. I think Joker wants to update the wall well away from this place."

"That would be fitting. This is a sad place for us now. I would feel better with the ship floating in the void."

Gabriella then helped Vega close up. Cortez was to take the _Normandy_ out-atmosphere under the watchful eye of Joker, in the co-pilot's seat. The ship was already floating but hadn't yet transitioned to thrusters.

" _Maneuvering stations, please folks. Shakedown in one minute."_

Gabby entered the lift and went below to change. By the time she finished, Cortez had announced FTL initiation to Arcturus. That would take some time, and after that a couple of days at least back to Earth – it was about thirty-six light years. No instantaneous relay any more, probably not in her lifetime. Although Adams had speculated that with five billion still on a highly industrialized planet, he would expect Citadel repairs to begin in months, and be essentially complete in three decades. At that point, if the theory behind the Citadel's control of other relays could be worked out, it might be possible to regenerate the relay net… very slowly, sending repair crews by bog-slow FTL.

The whole process might take a couple of centuries to complete, though. Always assuming the relays could be repaired at all. Might be quicker to work out the theory from scratch and make new ones. It was a good thing asari live a long time. But humans, quarians and turians didn't, although human lifespans had been almost doubled with tech.

Garrus and Tali were spending a lot of time together, lately. She hoped they would find comrades still alive on the Citadel, when they got back. Video of the flash didn't look promising in that regard.

An hour or so after morning tea – a Williams innovation for slack periods – the crew assembled before the memorial wall (except for a skeleton of watch officers, including to their disgust Donnelly and Cortez) while the Normandy's old reconstituted VI monitored essential systems.

By the time Traynor joined at the back, Ashley had placed EDI's name on the wall. Admiral Anderson's was next. There was some dispute about this. Anderson's time as ship captain was well in the past, on the SR-1. He most certainly was never crew during the epic events of the last three years, at least of the _Normandy_ SR-2. But it was unthinkable to leave him off the wall. "He was on Shepard's team", ruled Williams. "Or Shepard was on his. Either way."

What Chakwas had complained about was the absence of certain others. Where was Goldstein? Matthews? Chambers? Cerberus weren't Alliance Navy, Williams had ruled.

"But neither were others, like, say, Mordin. Or Legion, or EDI for that matter."

"Uh huh. But _they_ died on active service with the team. We don't even know for _sure_ the Cerberus people are dead. Don't be too quick to kill people off," said Williams. (Tali and Garrus were nodding like puppets). "With EDI it's fairly clear. And she _was_ duly commissioned. Shepard even organized combat pay for her, did you know that?"

So EDI now had her own plaque up, right under Caroline Grenado, and:  
"There's space on the wall for others later."

Still, Chakwas was irked. Many of the ex-Cerberus crew had been picked off fighting the death squads. _She_ felt that counted for something; _Williams_ was immovable.

Now Anderson's plaque was carefully placed, centrally.

Traynor couldn't help feeling her own status among these new argonauts was insecure. When she got the chance she had brought plaques for some Cerberus crew up privately, but couldn't budge the boss… much. _I'll_ _allow_ _it_ _for those Shep pardoned. And_ _when I see the bodies_ , said Ash.

Gabby slotted in beside her. They smiled at each other. Was Daniels thinking similar insecure thoughts? She and Kenneth had nearly bought it from Cerberus, just like other defectors, only to run afoul of Alliance law… till Shepard had granted them Spectre pardons, and a future.

Only to lose his own.

Ashley picked up the plaque with "Commander Shepard" on it, and turned it over in her hands.

* * *

– _Next chapter will be #13, "Memory_ _"_ _–_

* * *

Thursday, July 16, 2015


	4. Memory

Queen's Gambit, Book 1 - "Gone with the Sun"

Chapter 13 **Memory**

* * *

 _Ave atque vale_

Hackett looked even more forbidding and morose than usual as Sanders approached the flagship bridge. "I got your call, Admiral. Something about a recon team?"

"Ah, Kahlee." _Uh-oh. Not 'Sanders'_. "Would you accompany me to the lounge please. I'm assembling a small group. You may prefer not to join. We're to discuss another pressing issue as well, retrieval of the Primarch and survivors of Shepard's team from London, including Urdnot Wrex."

"Well, good! Isn't it?"

Hackett and Sanders, escorted by two Recon Marines, continued into the elevator. "Indeed. What's remarkable is not that so many died, but that so many are still alive."

Turning, Hackett dismissed his marine detail as they left the elevator, then: "But there is some bad news. Nothing like the calamity we just averted, but nonetheless armed men in a crowded room including upset Turians and Krogan would be a provocation. Kahlee, everything you will hear is secret at a level beyond COSMIC."

"Of course." They continued towards a conference lounge at the end of the corridor. Kahlee often used it; it looked out on the void. There were times when that helped, and she dreaded what was coming.

"But also, I wanted to speak with you alone, before we entered, and this is an even higher secret, but you need to know. Kahlee–" He halted for a minute, composing his thoughts. "David did not survive the firing of the crucible."

Kahlee's world went white for an instant. Hackett held her briefly as she staggered against him. "Oh…" She found herself tearing up.

"Here." Hackett must have had that handkerchief ready in hand. _Damn. Damn, damn, damn_.

"I'll walk you back to your cabin–"  
"Oh, no you don't, you're not getting rid of me that easily. Just wait a second."

Sanders thought for a minute. "What's this team? What's waiting for us in there?"

"Two teams. We've had word that _Normandy_ survived and is passing the depowered Charon relay on the way to Jump Zero – Gagarin Station. I'll have work for them, for Williams at least, and whoever can work with her. The other one is a rather efficient private outfit. I'm using them for some seriously dangerous and ethically rather difficult missions. They're the ones who found David's body. I was going to ask you to work with them, but I'll understand–"

"I'll work with either, Steven. Where do you want me?"

Hackett breathed out. A head poked around the door, inquisitive eyebrows raised. Hackett shook his head fractionally and the head dodged back in.

"Your choice, Kahlee. Both commanders can be difficult. I expect Ashley Williams has assumed command of Normandy, and you've met a leader of the private team, Miranda Lawson."

"Oh. Yes. At Grissom, when they brought Archer in, and I met Jack for the first time. Shepard seemed quite taken with her. With both of them, I think, which made matters very very awkward. Jack was going to start something with Lawson, but I saw the look on Shepard's face and so did both of them."

"Right, but they seem to have reconciled their approach to that lately. Despite Lawson being frankly a war criminal, and Jack just a criminal, neither is facing the executioner."

"Honest?"

"They're too damned useful, and prosecuting Jack – well, the defence attorney would have a field day with what Cerberus did. And by extension the Alliance, at that time. Also no-one, not even me, wanted to see what Shepard or Williams would do about their arrest."

"Right, the Spectres who shot a councilor out of hand and got medals for it. From the other councilors. That would give a few demagogues pause."

"More than you know. Now the Spectres are… absent, though, Lawson and Jack are both targets for the vengeful."

"I get the impression they annoyed a few people?"

"I won't go into details. That's not all, some on Ms Lawson's team are ex-Alliance loose cannons, Zabaleta for example was seconded by… well… Shepard's mother. Now, he did much better than I was expecting. Nonetheless there's a severe shortage of people on her team who I can trust, and entirely too many for me to shield. What I _can_ tell you is that besides Anderson they came back with at least one other dead man, Jack Harper–" Kahlee suppressed a brief exclamation;

"– and just how he wound up dead isn't clear yet but I wouldn't be at all surprised if Lawson shot him on sight."

"No kidding. She is a very… _definite_ person. Like Jack."

"As you say. So I'm in the invidious position of trying to get Lawson and her people immunity in the face of some of her past actions. Right now I want her team out of town, and I'd like you to go with them."

"Can I take Jack with me?"

"She will only go with the Grissom kids."

"Even better."

* * *

– _Next chapter will be #14, "By indirections_ _"_ _–_

* * *

Wednesday, July 15, 2015


	5. By indirections

Queen's Gambit, Book 1 - "Gone with the Sun"

Chapter 14 **By indirections**

* * *

 _T_ _ruth's bodyguard_

"Councilors, Primarch. Dalatrass. Clan Chief. Admirals. Optimus. Welcome to Earth space, once again under control of the Alliance, and welcome also to the Citadel. We chose this room to be sure that it was properly visible. Primarch, would you care to transfer proceedings there? I'm given to understand that the Presidium will not be remotely habitable for months, but the Dantius towers are semi-functional."

"Thank you, but no, Admiral Hackett, that will not be necessary. We were hoping to meet Earth's political leadership."

"Regrettably Councilor, the reason why you cannot is the first item we have to discuss."

There was some consternation among the assembled leadership, and a susurration among their aides.

"I have to advise also that there are several items on the agenda and that is nowhere near the most important. However, I can dispose of it fairly quickly. Primarch, we find ourselves in a situation in some ways comparable to your own, but much worse."

Primarch Victus nodded. Some of the details, especially those which needed to be suppressed, had already been discussed in private meetings earlier, with Wrex. There was a difficult political situation looming, and mutual support would be vital.

"Our former Councilor, Admiral Anderson, would have been an ideal choice for Earth's political leadership, at least while some of our more basic institutions are rebuilt. However, I regret to advise that the Admiral's body was found a few hours ago, within a few metres of the controls used to open the Citadel arms, allowing the Crucible to dock."

Sensation, then a gravelly salarian voice:

"Admiral Hackett, are you saying that he managed to open the arms himself?"

"Not quite, Dalatrass. The console logs indicate that his codes were entered at first but the command was aborted for reasons not yet clear. What _is_ clear is that in addition to his corpse, one other dead body was found – that of the Illusive Man, Jack Harper, with a massive head wound."

"Ah. He interrupted Councilor Anderson, then, and Anderson shot him."

Interesting that the Salarians seemed to have posthumously restored Anderson to the Council ranks. "That is entirely possible, Councilor Valern, but not quite certain. The logs do reveal that the command to open the arms was in fact issued with rather dubious Spectre codes belonging to Commander Shepard."

Louder sensation and whispering from the cheap seats.

"Shepard's codes were accepted without secondary authentication, despite the severe wounds which compromised biometric validation, given the prior entry of the former Councilor, who we think was incapacitated while attempting it."

Valern and Tevos, as well as Dalatrass Linron, were clearly shocked. Wonderful, we've managed to keep it from the STG. The faces of Sparatus and Victus, however, betrayed not a flicker of surprise. Interesting.

"Did _Shepard_ shoot the miserable excrement?" From an unidentifiable quarian. The only quarian of real political seniority in-system was Tali vas Normandy, and she was in-system but not yet arrived. Hardly any of those who remained, around a thousand from ship casualties, were more than mid-level techs. Much the same was probably true of the Geth, except for Optimus, who was part of the company of Primes secured for Hackett (by Shepard) after Rannoch.

Hackett inclined his head. "Harper's wound is entirely consistent with that hypothesis, but we simply do not know, and quite likely never will."

"Where is Shepard?"

"His corpse has not been found. Councilors, you especially are invited to examine the bodies we do have. You will see that despite being tens of metres from initiation of the singularity, and not even in the direct line of the shock wave, they were found in the iron rubble with truly intense charring. I might add that it seems Anderson took a bullet himself."

"From Harper."

"Presumably, yes, ma'am. It is blood loss which eventually killed him, not the charring, but there is every indication – we have some video records from the Crucible's docking perspective – that it was Commander Shepard who took an elevator to the docking point and who, after a long period of hesitation, destroyed one of the flux gates for the circulating plasma. This catalyzed a quantum subscale singularity which fired inside a hidden mass relay in the tower base, and caused the wormhole to collapse. At that time Commander Shepard was not three metres from the collapsing plasma tube."

Gentle murmurs. Sparatus cleared his throat: "In any event, it seems credit belongs to Councilor Anderson as well as Commander Shepard?"

"Indeed, Councilor Sparatus. There is one further point. An expedition from the Citadel reached the control platform a short time later, mounted on the authority of Commander Bailey. It included a platoon of his Turian C-Sec troops, and a medical detail under one of your own–"

"Tactus."

"– Correct. And it seems the medical detail included someone with access to Spectre codes. The same ones as were used to open the arm. But they could not possibly have been issued by Commander Shepard, for by that time the Crucible had fired."

Sensation!

"Was some nefarious action attributable to Tactus, Admiral?"

"On the contrary, Primarch. The platoon was not moving as quickly as Tactus' medical detail, and arrived at the docking point nearly an hour later. Tactus and his two aides, that is, Dr Chloe Michel and a therapist–"  
 _Whispers, there;_ "– were meanwhile able to use the validated codes belonging to Anderson and Shepard to fire the thrusters at apogee, which did two things; it cleared the remnants of the Crucible from the tower, and it stabilized the Citadel in a sustainable orbit. We owe them all a debt difficult to repay."

Scattered applause.

"Dr Michel and Tactus were then picked up by one of our scouting flotilla, along with the bodies found. You may pay your respects to Anderson, and inspect the corpse of Mr Harper, at any time in the morgue. Tactus will be reporting back to Bailey, Primarch. Dr Michel is currently back at Huerta Memorial but will be available for consultation also, for a short time, pending redeployment to the fleet."

"Indeed, I have spoken to both. They were able to confirm all the details you provide."

"Thank you." _Oho._ "But to return to the original question, Councilor, there is simply no-one left of Anderson's stature to take his place. Accordingly, and _per_ the request of his living will, I have taken it upon myself to represent humanity until a proper civilian administration can be established."

Nods around the table. Frantic scribbling on datapads among the aides.

"With the permission of the councilors, I will move to the next and most important item on the agenda. As your own advisors will by now have told you, the Charon and Arcturus relays are defunct." Nods all around. "What may not be instantly clear to you all is that we believe _all_ relays around the galaxy have suffered the same fate."

Gasps. Some shock on the face of the quarians, the Dalatrass, and Tevos. Blank looks from the Primarch, of course, and Sparatus, interesting. The Geth representative had a hand in the air.

"I recognize Optimus, of the geth."

"Admiral. Would this not mean we are stranded here? We have had no comm buoy link with the consensus for some days."

"Almost. Optimus, we may have bad news in that regard, bearing in mind that the relays embedded in comm buoys were also vulnerable to the red flash. I will see you shortly. But the situation may be most dire for the Salarians here. Dalatrass, I fear that according to our best estimates, it will take nearly a decade at typical speeds, allowing for refueling, repairs, and resupply from garden worlds, before you will be able to return to Sur'Kesh by FTL."

"But this is utterly unacceptable! By the time I return, I will be dead! More importantly, half my crews will be dead!"

"I fear you will have to make liberal use of cold sleep, Dalatrass. Or, you are welcome to stay here indefinitely. We owe you all a great debt, and the Reapers have left…"

Hackett caught himself.

"… have left great wastes all around our major cities, especially, in which no human life can be found."

"This is… this is monstrous!"

"Yes, Dalatrass. But there is little time to mourn."

"I mean, even with cold sleep, the Salarian political leadership on Sur'Kesh will pass to rival families!"

"I see. I understand that is a problem, Dalatrass, but there's nothing I can do to assist."

"Oh!" The Dalatrass ran from the room, followed by most of her aides. There was a brief, very total, silence. Slowly, a Spectre from the salarian Councilor's entourage – _Bau?_ – entered her seat.

"Admiral, I apologize for that outburst," intoned Valern. "I believe we will take you up on that offer, for now."

Hackett nodded. "In any event, the result is very inconvenient also for quarians, geth – these live furthest away – and also asari and turians. It is fortunate that the fleets of most races were able to jump through the relay net, just ahead of the collapsing wormholes, according to the statistics compiled by the relays before all power was lost. And of course, that means that with the exception of the very large populations on the Citadel, most of your consentients have gone home. But you cannot yet follow."

"Is there any plan afoot?"

"We propose to set aside areas in Australasia, especially, for your use, Primarch. Adelaide, in particular, has been depopulated, along with others of the major cities along the coast. The major problem with moving to other parts of the planet below is the very large number of indoctrinated humans which we are having to contend with."

"Is there a plan for _them_?"

"They are, psychologically speaking, adrift with the complete destruction of the Reapers. Most interestingly, Reaper artifacts no longer appear to have the ability to initiate or maintain indoctrination. Nonetheless, something like five percent of the population, including nearly all the former administration, was thoroughly indoctrinated. Many of them have killed themselves. Something similar happened to one of my researchers, Dr Amanda Kenson, indoctrinated at the time. Or they died from the effects of the red glow on Reaper implants."

"Admiral."

"I recognize Commander Balak."

"Might I recommend that you segregate the population completely? If necessary, you should get them off-planet as quickly as possible. I do not believe they can ever be trusted again."

"Your point is well taken, Commander, but I am not in a position to decide that. Family ties among humans may well make it difficult or impossible. We may be obliged to transfer such populations, and their families, to fairly remote garden worlds as fresh colonies. At least their children would not suffer from the taint of indoctrination. In the long run, as we construct new navies, and new relays, perhaps we can welcome their descendants back to the race of reason."

"You are proposing to construct new relays, then?"

"Indeed, yes. We might recover the eezo, but personally, I would not trust workers near any reaper technology, such as the relays unquestionably are, ever again. Or if I do, they will be relays constructed by ourselves, jointly, of which we jointly and severally understand the operating principles."

Balak sat back, apparently satisfied. "We might delay our departure for home, then, Admiral, if you don't mind."

"You are welcome. Gentlefolk, this has been a long session with no small number of shocking revelations. I'm sure you will want to ponder the implications of what you have heard today. Is there any further business?"

Silence.

"These proceedings are closed."

* * *

– _Next chapter will be #15, "Hope_ _"_ _–_

* * *

Wednesday, July 15, 2015


	6. Hope

Queen's Gambit, Book 1 - "Gone with the Sun"

Chapter 15 **Hope**

* * *

 _Core Values_

Gabby, Donnelly and Adams came up with Cortez to the cockpit.

"Come and grab coffee, Moreau."

"Uh, glad to see you guys. Steve, you okay with taking the conn?"

"Aye aye. Someone relieve Traynor, too, she's a bit wobbly."

"Likewise here. Copeland can spell Traynor. Man, I'm out on my feet."

"So say we all, Moreau. But there's two days of slack time before we cruise into Sol system."

"Any idea what we'll find?"

"Some. Donnelly went over comm logs with the VI. Kenneth? "

"It's better than nothing. I miss EDI, though. It looks promising but we have indications the flash knocked out a handful of fleet vessels."

"Well duh. But weren't we the last out?"

"Not quite. A handful of raggedy-ass slow quarians got bounced by the flash, the last thing you heard was the squeal as their comms died. And a whole bunch of fighter jocks missed their carriers, they'll have to deorbit. Then there were ships too severely damaged to run, mostly Turian but a fraction of the other fleets too, they're out for the count until Hackett gets back. Probably de-orbit those too. Traynor, join us for caffeine?"

"Hope we can feed them." The elevator opened and they headed for crew deck.

"Hackett's the big unknown," observed Samantha. "He'll probably spend the next few months travelling back from the Exodus cluster." But Daniels was shaking her head. "Gabby, you disagree?"

"Sort of. I've been thinking about speed and time. He would have had time to rendezvous at Arcturus and hide for a few minutes on the far side of the star. If he got within a couple of AU of the photosphere, the soliton moving grid would have been degraded by neutrino flux in Arcturus' fusion layer. It would still kill reapers, that's what it's tuned for, but not ship systems. At least, not so much."

"So… we could have done that too?"

"No. We left it too late. So did a fair few others."

Moreau cursed a blue streak. Adams winced. "Jeff?"

"That's the second time I've done that. Waited too long. Last time, I killed Shepard. This time I killed EDI. Did we get all the Reapers, at least?"

"And how," said Donnelly. They exited the elevator, making for the kitchenette.

"I'll have tea, please." Donnelly avoided coffee. "It looks like the crucible flash was repeated every time it overloaded a relay, and indications from Charon and Arcturus are it did for every one. EMP is from oscillons as the soliton operates on the substrate."

"Sweet Jesus," said Joker, awed. "There's barely any dispersion from a soliton."

"Exactly, so EMP gradient stays sharp. Gabby thinks just one relay shock would still be lethal to Reapers within fifty kiloparsecs, even in the galactic plane."

"There's more, Kenneth. The thing was superluminal, gaining on us. Not just in speed, it was still accelerating. And such soliton dispersion as does happen depends on interstellar neutrino flux density. Extrapolating, it would still have been reaper-lethal on the far side of Andromeda. I don't know exactly how this was done. In principle the creation and deletion of massively parallel quantum strings would work, but that requires access to a level of the universe below the standard model."

"I get it. The red flash generates the EMP as virtual particles become real. But you're right, there's pilot wave stuff going on here. Non-local hidden variables. Adams, you concur?"

"EDI didn't say a lot to me about it, Traynor, but I can't fault Ms Daniels' calculations based on observing the actual grid behavior."

"Speaking of EDI…" Joker rose with some difficulty. They proceeded to the old AI room, now being used as medbay storage. "What _did_ EDI say to you? All she really said to me was how to dodge, where to go and a kind of goodbye. If I wanted to say a better one I'd have to go to her remote body, on the bench exactly where we laid it down after Mars."

"Basically she just told me what was about to happen and ran through a countdown while she was doing it – " Adams stopped in his tracks. Chakwas turned in surprise.

"Greg, Jeff , can I help you? We're finishing up some dextro-ration precursors."

Well that explained the cramped space. Adams didn't respond at once, but opened a VI channel: "Ashley, Tali, Liara, respond please. I'm at the AI core, could you meet me there?" Turning, he addressed Chakwas:

"No thanks, Karin, could you let me know when you're done? We may need rather a lot of DPU nodes soon. Gabby, I just had an epiphany. Jeff, EDI _did_ say something odd, almost the last thing, at the end of the countdown."

"What, then? Is she – it, the body – still in the AI core?" Donnelly opened the door to "AI core", just as Tali and Liara turned up.

"Depends on what is meant by "AI core". When you speak of core memory, folks, what would _you_ mean?" They all passed through. "There's a few possibilities," observed Liara.

Kenneth was a little nonplussed. "Well, in modern usage it's the highest-speed random-access refreshed memory. Doesn't have to be the registers in the CPU core, so not sure where that came from. Unless you mean the original high-speed random access memory, from the dawn of time, made of wired ferrite cores. Non-volatile but reading erased it, you had to write to it again immediately."

Ashley walked in. "What's this? Are y'all talking about EDI, Adams?"

"Sort of. EDI said to me, "dumping core", two seconds before the end. I nearly missed it. It's a historical usage from the days of ferrite core RAM, as Mr Donnelly says, which persisted well into the twenty-first century. If I'm to take that seriously, in effect she was saying she would copy her memory state to some unwipeable storage. But the problem is, there isn't any. This room is in fact called the AI core–"

"Ah," said Tali and Liara, in unison. Joker interrupted: "Wait, you're saying EDI's alive?" Ashley leaned back against the wall, but looked interested.

"No, Lieutenant. Just that a specific part of her memory state could be recovered. If she did in fact copy it to a safe place. But her quantum blue box DPU technology has no safe place, here in the AI core, from what we went through."

Gabriella Daniels piped up. "Also Jeff, bear in mind that this is quantum technology we're talking about. The Pauli exclusion principle asserts that a _perfect_ copy of a fermionic structure can never exist at the same time as the original."

"What's the significance of _that_? Keep it simple for a poor bloody soldier please," – asked Ashley.

Tali and Liara looked at each other. Tali inclined her head to Liara, who turned and explained;

"Ashley, it means the quantum state of any chemical or advanced electronic computer, such as organics or EDI, is _unique_. Our AI computers, like our brains, make use of fermionic quantum effects."

"Translating for the non-specialist, you're saying there's only one soul per person?"

"Depends," said Donnelly. "That's not necessarily true of Reaper brains. Those have bosonic cores, with logic elements based on photon state exchange, and Bose-Einstein condensates for secondary storage–"  
"– which made them vulnerable to the crucible, thank god," observed Joker.

"Kenneth. Don't bore the captain with tech."

"It's alright, Daniels, I think I follow."

"Don't jump to conclusions. _Soul_ is not well-defined." sighed Liara, "It's still a point of view, but we do know each Reaper had many minds."

"Which tells _this_ poor bloody soldier those infernal machines maybe ate souls but had none of their own. Big surprise, not."

"Legion might not agree," – muttered Joker. "And Reaper tech or not, EDI was no Reaper." Thus prompted, Liara diplomatically re-asserted the problem at hand:

"Even so. Ashley, EDI well knew that a perfect system backup was impossible. But moving to static storage might work."

And Tali nodded: "That's Adam's point. If we take 'dumping core' seriously, in effect, EDI was gone before the soliton hit."

Joker started to say something else, but Ashley interrupted:

"Hang on Moreau – Tali, didn't EDI have rather a chequered history?"

"Yes. She started out as a very high-level VI for combat simulations on Luna, but went rogue. Shepard had to put her down."

"I remember that. And then there was the video log in Cronos station, dear _God_ but that was an awkward moment."

"Uh huh?" Joker looked up. _He_ hadn't been around for that. "What happened?"

"A bit of history, Moreau. EDI showed us some surveillance logs. The Illusive Man was discussing EDI's development with one of his techs, who said the VI… um… was smart enough to call for help – in binary ASCII, believe it or not – but that it wouldn't be talking philosophy anytime soon. So of course Shepard asks straight out, " _So you were that rogue VI on Luna? Guess we didn't start off on the right foot._ "

Joker covered his eyes with his hands and shook his head. "He _so_ missed a good punchline."

"She told me later, it was a difficult birth," Tali observed. "That was when she began to have self-awareness, and people were shooting at her."

"Poor baby," said Joker very quietly. "So I'm guessing she shoots back, slays them all? Then the universal soldier ups and terminates _her_." This was a bit raw for Ashley, who _had_ been on that mission: "She came damn close to terminating _us_ , Lieutenant."

"Wait up, Tali – Cerberus got hold of the VI hardware, then?"

"Exactly, Gabby. They sort of 'improved' her."

"Improved how?" Adams looked very intently into the quarian's visor.

"They built tech upgrades into the surviving hardware that originated in research discoveries from captured reaper artifacts from Sovereign."

"Stop right there, Tali. So this isn't purely Alliance tech?"

"Well yes, it is. There are no Reaper parts, as such."

"But the important point is _EDI_ _wasn't a normal blue box_. Where was the stasis projector?"

"There, on that bench where her old body is. I was sitting on top of it. Otherwise I'd be dead."

Ashley, Liara, and Adams looked at each other, then at the body. Liara spoke first:

"Tali… When we first saw that body… it was an infiltration unit with synthflesh epidermis, calling itself Dr Eva Coré."

"And the Cronos video logs mentioned it as named 'Eva' by the Illusive Man," recalled Ashley.

Adams broke the pregnant silence. "Okay. So there would be Reaper-based tech in that body, too. That means the core dump is possibly in there, or possibly under the bench."

"Or both."

"Let's look under the bench first."

It was a productive exercise. "Isn't that a greybox?"

" _Way_ too big." Chakwas had by this time displaced Donnelly and Gabriella, and was peering over their shoulders. "I think that's what some wag called a positronic brain. It employs the same kind of Potentiated Optical Synapse arrays using organic polymers which were pioneered in greyboxes, until they were banned."

"That wouldn't stop Cerberus. This is too big though. It's not lots of little greyboxes together?"

"No. Although the same self-organizing Hebbian potentiation principles are involved. It might well have been something derived from collector technology, or ultimately that of reapers, but use in this configuration is governed by a federally-owned patent. The only permitted instance in recent years was with Mr Huerta."

"Oh yeah," recalled Adams. "That was actually quite a well known and understood bit of kit. Synthetic Insights made the prototype."

"This though is much larger, and the materials are different in detail."

"Can we read it out to a DPU cluster?"

"Dear Greg, I have no idea. Kasumi might know."

Joker sighed. "What about this Eva body then?"

Tali cleared her throat. "It had extensive use of AI shackles built in. EDI had to clip most of them after gaining root access. She could do that because her own AI core was by then unshackled. I don't know what you would get if you tried to power it up –"

"Can't, Tali," said Adams, shaking his head. "That was almost the first thing I thought of. More or less every electro-optical node from the neck down is fried, and those things are non-standard."

"Can we make more, and replace them?"

"Yes. It would take months. I'm going to get Daniels and Donnelly to refurbish the AI core's DPU nodules anyway, during slack time. If nothing else the VI would be more powerful, but it wouldn't be anything like EDI. While they're at it I'll get them to re-equip EDI's remote. It's good exercise, and who knows? Maybe one day."

Joker sighed. "Well that's more than we had before. Hope, I mean."

On that note, everyone but himself and Chakwas drifted back to the kitchen area. Joker sat on the floor. After a few minutes, Chakwas came up and asked quietly,

"Penny for them, Jeff?"

"Aw, it's nothing important, Karin. It's just she's – it's completely powered off, you know? Even that orange visor is gone."

"I see. Strange to look at then?"

"Not really, just… different. Notice the eyes are closed?"

Karin turned to examine the relic more closely. "Yes, I see. How very… human."

"Exactly. I saw it after it concussed Ashley, whereupon Shepard and Vega trashed it. Man they did a number. It was as dead as dead can be. And yet its eyes were open…"

"Yes?"

"Those eyes didn't close by themselves. EDI must have done that consciously."

* * *

– _Next chapter will be #16, "And now_ _"_ _–_

* * *

Wednesday, July 15, 2015


	7. And now

Queen's Gambit, Book 1 - "Gone with the Sun"

Chapter 16 **And now**

* * *

 _Baby don't go_

Beyond tired, Miranda left the sterile area, leaned back against the bulkhead, closed her eyes and exhaled, long and slowly. After a few seconds she looked up, started, and suppressed a squeal. Chloe Michel stood before her, arms folded, a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Where the _hell_ did you learn to move like that?"

"In hell, or a reasonable facsimile thereof. Courtesy the turian you threatened to kill a few hours ago."

"Sorry about that. I had absolutely no idea where he had come from, still less his intentions. If he hadn't been with you and–"

"Shh!"

"Did I miss something?"

"Hackett and Hannah want her to disappear. Again. Never existed."

"Seriously? Anyway, I'd probably have biffed him off the platform with a biotic slam. Wouldn't have killed him though."

Miranda began to methodically strip her disposable garments, and donned some fairly shapeless Alliance-issue fatigues. "If you don't mind my asking Doctor, what exactly are you doing here?" They headed out towards the commissary and approached the service VI.

"They want _you_ to disappear too."

"Uh oh."

"Mostly though they want you for something special. They wouldn't tell me what. Or even that it was something special, but I can read the signs."

"I'm not going to like this, am I? Coffee please, black no sugar."

"Green tea, thank you. Coats and Hackett also want Jennifer Null and Kahlee Sanders with your team, but mostly they want _you_ and the biotic from hell out of Dodge, as Hackett put it."

"Jack? No way. Sanders, I suppose I could find a place. But I've just spent weeks getting my team the way I want it!"

"I sympathize. I really do. I've had to disengage from day-to-day operations at Huerta Memorial. Hackett said if we don't vanish, our lifespans will be short and he will lose the last of his hair."

"Eh? That's not good."

"True. But Shepard _m_ _è_ _re_ said bald men are sexy."

Miranda sneezed into her coffee. "Damn you, that was unfair. And it's not what I meant. If he's ripping you away from Huerta at this time things must be serious." She grabbed some tissues and made for a table to clean up.

"I'm just going to have to trust my staff. Actually what Hannah said was ' _You've already got hot_ _older women_ _writing you creepy fan mail,_ _including two asari matriarchs_ _, don't encourage them._ '"

"Oh God. Look, seriously, people want you dead?"

"Something to do with frustrating certain black market ambitions."

"Dear me. Poor babies. Did Garrus Vakarian have anything to do with this?"

"Er… Garrus, Bailey, and some gun for hire called Massani."

"Zaeed! How many died?" Miranda finished with her coffee, swallowing about half the small cup in one gulp. They began to return to the Special Trauma Unit.

"Garrus wouldn't tell me. Anyway, in the medium term I'm out of the news. I'm supposed to take over from you, here. That means you have to tell me everything you can about the technical solutions developed by Project Lazarus."

"They can't _do_ this to me!" wailed Miranda.

"Lawson. _Miranda_." Chloe leaned forward. "Does this have to be about you?"

"There is no way to communicate everything we painfully learned during Lazarus."

"Officially, _I'm_ now the _Orizaba's_ Chief Medical Officer. The excuse is that Huerta's a wreck and needs a special team during emergency repairs."

"Still not happening. I don't have the manual since I quit Cerberus, for one thing."

"We'll start our own manual."

"Well, let's disregard how I might feel about it. It would take me weeks to try and recapitulate two years of research, and dammit there's bound to be something I'd miss."

"I will undertake to provide ten reams of A4 lined paper."

"Chloe, you're not listening to me! Why should I tell you _anything_?" They reached the door and she stopped. "Wait, that was a _joke_ … right?"

Dr Michel opened the outer door. They began to divest and put on disposable steriles.

"There is hope for you yet. Miranda, telling someone else surely can't hurt."

"Yes it can. The powers that be would have an excuse to boot me off the case. That would be a very bad idea."

"Can we induce a coma?"

"Of course, the implants are trashed, it's already done – why am I telling you this?"

"Um… because Steven and Hannah say so?"

"Look, there's no way I can tell you or anyone else everything I know, most of that stuff is a matter of recognition not learning."

"If you don't, none of what you _might_ plan will happen. I and just two assistants am now in charge of his treatment _and I won't know what I'm doing_."

"I've been there before, it _will_ come back to me, but I _can't_ organize it in advance."

"I understand perfectly." Chloe finished and opened the first inner isolation door.

"Good."

"We will have to do our best without you." The second door.

" _No!_ That's not going to – " Miranda registered who was on the other side.

"Ms Lawson. Doctor."

"Admiral Shepard! Chakwas! You can't be in here!"

"Actually, Miranda, I was just about to say the same of you."

There was a brief silence during which Miranda played her words back to herself.

"Admiral, Karin, I'm so sorry, I just don't think we're at the point yet where I can let him out of my sight."

"I see. Doctor Michel, your team composed the trauma report. Your assessment?"

"Admiral, he has third degree burns to left hand side of his face, and second degree burns to forty percent of the rest of him, multiple fractures including of the right femur but I'm more worried about the strange hairline longitudinal cracks. Implants are completely burned out with concomitant effects on pain and touch receptors. The retinal taps will have to be completely rebuilt, MRI and CAT show something's happened to the heavy weave on his bones and that's barely hitting the highlights."

"Oh dear."

"On the up side, PET picks up no implants whatsoever under the pia mater, whatever burned him out didn't get to the central nervous system."

"Good. Nothing was visible of his face except some hair. "

"Ah. Well, in terms of cosmetic appearance it will be months before we even finish grafts. Miranda is relying on synthflesh which is a good medium term solution but will impose scarring if a transition to self-flesh isn't begun and quickly."

"Nonetheless, Doctor, he looks much improved. In the sense that finally there's a stable pulse."

"Karin, that's _Miranda's_ doing – " But the Admiral broke in:

"We need, and I do emphasize that word, Ms Lawson on other duties."

Miranda began to panic. If she was fired from Shepard's care anything could happen. "But you could lose him!"

The Admiral turned to her again. "Yes. I understand that. I've had many years to get used to the idea that I might have to give up my son."

Karin spoke up: "Do please work with Dr Michel on this, Miranda."

Miranda sighed. "I can do that… Chloe? How long do I have?"

"Around two weeks, I think, Miranda. I understand you will be back in time for the next stage. We need to concentrate on those parts of the recovery process which we can handle _now_. On the other hand if you don't come back we need an overview."

"Whoever's taking notes will have to be up to the state of the art, and quick, to get the fundamentals down over such a short period."

"Michel, Chakwas, and perhaps one other are the personnel you've got. Two weeks is the time we can give you. Resupply and repair will take that long. Hackett thinks your next jobs might be extraordinarily dangerous. That's one thing you should know."

"I understand. He thinks I might not be back to help."

"Right. Here's another. It was hard to decide to let you try again. It's difficult to see the level of pain he's had to endure, over and above the call of duty. I do not want the love every mother bears her child to mount him on a cross of everlasting pain. Don't let him suffer needlessly. Do you understand me?"

"Perfectly."

"On the other hand, he'd want your discoveries known for the use of others. So try."

"Yes… ma'am." She looked at the two doctors. "Shall we get started?"

" _Ms Lawson_. There's more." She turned back. "About the other patient. It has a bearing on my decision too."

Miranda's cheeks began to burn with shame as she covered her eyes. The Admiral stepped forward, and cupped her hands under her chin. " _Look_ at me, please. I have been briefed on what happened. Now _why_ should I put my son's life in such hands?"

Miranda desperately fought the urge to shuffle her feet. "That doesn't sound like a rhetorical question. I suppose… because I've done it before?"

"Correct. But I will give you another answer. If _she_ can forgive you, _I_ can too. Besides, apparently there was something you didn't know."

"Yes." Miranda looked down, locked her fingers to stop them fidgeting. "Goto says they had a thing going. Shep told her to stay under the radar. Even _I_ couldn't find her."

"Just so. But that's not all. Karin?"

"Dr Michel asked me to check something. I had to ensure the patient gave a urine sample and blood tests before she went under anaesthetic, anyway. She would appear to be around seven weeks pregnant."

Miranda had seen this coming. Not generally given to regrets, she nonetheless sighed a great sigh. "Admiral, why do you want me anywhere near your son?"

"Karin, Chloe, would you see to the invalids please? Actually, Karin, I will meet you in the ward shortly."

"Yes ma'am." "Certainly."

In twelve seconds, they were alone.

"Do not look so sad, Ms Lawson. A great many people, including my son, would not be alive if you were other than the way you are. Sit."

Miranda sat.

"To answer your question, Ms Lawson, will require breaking some confidences."

"Oh?"

"First, can I say that I thoroughly approve of you."

 _"Really?"_

"And so, I gather, did John."

"Perhaps."

"You two had a thing going on well before your victim smiled at him."

Another sigh. The Admiral rested a thoughtful, but not hostile, gaze on Miranda, and got to the point in a rapid-fire exchange:

"John wrote about you."  
"Did he? We sure had a wonderful time."  
"I think he might have been in love."  
"I'd like to think so. I certainly was. Am. But Shepard…"

And there it was, in the open. Hannah nodded slowly:

"…Couldn't permit himself that sort of sentiment?"

"Not so it showed. Anyway, after the asteroid strike on the Alpha relay, Shep was under a cloud. We had to cry off. In my case, literally."

"We know," said Hannah grimly. "That cost him too, you realize."

"Seriously? No-one on Shepard's combat triad was indispensable, even himself. Even me. That was love?"

"What's love got to do with it?"

"I left Cerberus for him."

"I think you picked a side, and a commander."

"He'd never leave the fleet for me."

"John doesn't have to. You never asked him. Will you?"

"No. True. I'd be petrified he'd say no. He might for Kelly, maybe."

"I can't see _her_ asking that of him, either."

"You sure about that, Admiral? I get the impression you know her better than me."

"Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Ms Lawson, don't get hung up on what John might do."

"Oh please. I've still sent people to die. I couldn't send your son."

"Miranda, that just tells me you're not a professional soldier, although god knows I can't think of many who could best you in battle."

"Well…Harper insisted love was futile. Any squadmate, like any other soldier, might be expended as bait or left to a terrible death; all you can do is remember them."

"And _he's_ your role model? Get a grip, Ms Lawson. Sending people where they can die is a choice inherent in the profession of arms, and sometimes they're soulmates. At least for a mixed-gender army, and even in some monogendered outfits like the Theban Sacred Band, dying to a man against Alexander. But resistance is _never_ futile."

"Still…"

" _Nor is love_. I loved John's father. I think he loved me."

"Er, Anderson and Hackett– "

Hannah waved Miranda to silence:

"Hackett… well he can speak for himself, but even I personally have had to send special friends in harm's way, not least the woman you laid low. Another died."

"I'm sorry –"

"Don't be. Just remember, a broken heart doesn't necessarily make you a worse soldier. A burden of guilt might, so don't second-guess fate, and don't write off his feelings for you. No, let me finish. John was, like you, constrained by events after Aratoht. He was held incommunicado for months, until the Reapers struck. And after that he couldn't find you for a long time."

Miranda shook her head. "I didn't want to be found."

"Well then… Waited too long?"

"That's right, but… there was more to it. There was family I had to… take care of."

"Hm. I can tell you that John did locate his yeoman, as with his engineers – regs required that he write that up in the ship's log. John found _her_ before finding _you_."

"Actually he was there for me at the end. We did properly catch up – eventually. And we all had one final wonderful party, except Chakwas couldn't come. That was just before he, EDI, and Ash took out the main Cerberus base."

"We heard about the party, Miranda. Kahlee Sanders was scandalized by the litter."

"And of course 'Hannigan' wasn't partying. I thought she was dead, but now…"

"Lieutenant Moreau said she wasn't invited. _'It was like she was an unperson.'_ Since she wouldn't return to Normandy, John took other steps to ensure her safety. So far as anyone knew, she died in the Cerberus coup – the _Normandy_ log, when decrypted, even says John overheard Donnelly and Daniels discussing rumors of her demise."

"What, and he didn't correct them? Huh. The man _can_ keep secrets. Admiral, are you worried I might take John away? Or rather, back?"

"Not exactly. It's true she does not have your unique charisma and drive. She's no kind of warrior. Not a biotic goddess, not a genius nor a heroine spectre. Just an ordinary girl–"

" _Hah!"_

"– yet, I know John was torn. So 'hah', indeed. She's a very good clinical psychologist, I think. She has, by all reports, other qualities."

"That warm chameleon presence. I should've known better."

"Never mind. EDI copied Hackett some of the surveillance material from the Cerberus base, including archived video logs. She was tapped for the position of yeoman, along with other 'sympathetic characters', expressly to keep him ' _invested_.'"

"Right. She was appointed directly by the Illusive Man. Why didn't I pick that up? Right under my nose."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. Others missed it too. Chloe says _'_ _Nothing special at all,_ ' is how she describes herself when she's trying to blend in. The fact is, though, your friend Liara showed us something… the Alliance and the old Shadow Broker had compiled dossiers on many of his known associates."

"Was she mentioned?"

"No. We'll get on to her dealings with the Alliance when Steven gets here, but Kelly Chambers was never listed as a known associate, so the Shadow Broker's intelligence was imperfect–"

" _Masterly_ understatement."

"– but the Broker did get copied _you_ _r_ examination by that Illium clinic."

"Oh no."

"Oh, yes. No-one thinks you will try and steal him, Miranda. Why should you? Besides, to make John happier, I think this slip of a girl would softly and silently vanish away."

"With her child."

"Yes."

"I should go."

"Conversely, if _you_ leave, John would go looking for you. Please don't go."

* * *

– _Next chapter will be #17, "Find directions out_ _…"_ _–_

* * *

Friday, July 17, 2015


	8. Find directions out

Queen's Gambit, Book 1 - "Gone with the Sun"

Chapter 17 **Find directions out**

* * *

 _S_ _iege perilous_

"I call this session to order."

The council members drifted back to their tables. Besides Sparatus (the chair) there was finally another human Councilor, Dominic Osoba. Hackett had refused the job point-blank, but he was in the background with other council advisers, and ranking members of most species. Sparatus looked steadily around the table till all the councilors were seated.

"As the agenda indicates, we have a preliminary plan. Would you please consult the brief outline provided." A rustling ensued as the assembled multitude – some thirty persons – consulted their datapads.

"You will observe the very first item involves a first wave of a very few ships with newly-made QECs heading straight for home worlds. A bit of background here. As nearly all of you will have discovered, QEC support circuits either failed during the EM pulse, or lost entanglement with the passage of the soliton. Commander Balak, a question?"

"There have been some cases where they survived, have there not?"

"Regrettably few, commander. There _were_ exceptions. Asari and Turian fleets carried by far the greatest number of QECs so a number of theirs actually survived with entanglement pairs intact at both ends, which allowed Councilors Tevos and Sparatus as well as Primarch Victus, a minimal level of contact with their home worlds."

"Are any close to Batarian space?"

"Not that I am aware. Admiral Hackett, you wish to speak?"

"Salarians are closer, but the Salarians had far fewer QECs, I'm told because they represent an intelligence nightmare – QEC usage can't be detected, and can't be interfered with. They're the perfect bug. Or spy radio. A very small number of commercial QECs linking to remote industrial outposts did survive, but these are nonetheless some months away by FTL from Batarian space. For example my staff advises there are two live QEC connections to the Crucible construction site, one of which is in the fleet, the other in the Voyager Cluster, but getting that one to the Kite's Nest, say, would involve a voyage of some years to Batarian borders."

"I see. We are left with the long voyage home alone, then."

"You will not necessarily be alone, commander. We will provide some liaison, as we will for the remnants of the Geth, and for those left behind by the Quarian fleet. To maintain contact we can also produce QEC pairs for ties by ansible. It will take a couple of weeks for newly entangled nuclei to be set up. In the interim, supplies are accumulating to equip the first wave."

The batarian commander looked thoughtful. "Yes, I received the briefing."

"Very well. Shall I resume? Then the second priority is to rebuild Earth and Citadel industries, as well as such broken fleet vessels as may be quickly and economically returned to service. This will mean reverting to a planned economy for approximately five solar years."

Immediate interest from all. Only the Turians and Batarians had recent experience with central war planning, and only the Turians had done it successfully.

" _But_ there is a special category of construction project. Specifically, it appears that at least one and possibly two mass relays survived the soliton and pulse, although they are not useful at present."

Clearly most did not see the significance. However, the quarian and geth representatives focused on the obvious technical anomaly.

"I recognize the representative of the geth consensus."

"Councilor Sparatus, how can this be? All calculations indicate that the eezo core of every mass relay would collapse, propagating through the wormhole with predictable catastrophe along the chain."

"Not all mass relays used an eezo core to power and maintain a wormhole connection. Consider, if you would, which relays were _not_ built by the Reapers."

Sparatus watched with some satisfaction the looks of dawning comprehension on the faces of, especially, the human and quarian members present. Clearly Hackett had kept his promise of an embargo on the ideas generated by the Joint Crucible Team and the _Normandy's_ experts. "I see that some of you have worked it out. There was a link to the Citadel using two mass relays produced by the Protheans –"

"From Ilos!"

"Quite right, Councilor Valern, we of course know one end now as the Conduit. It was produced at Ilos, like the other end, but transported to the Citadel presidium. It has been retrieved from the old Citadel Archives to the turian flagship, where it has been yielding its secrets to a joint asari/human/turian team of scientists. Yes, Councilor?"

"The Salarian STG would very much like to have an observer on the team."

"This was anticipated." Laughter. "I understand the team leadership has no objection to participation by council races or associates."

The batarian commander looked annoyed. Well, he had a choice now, didn't he.

"I should mention the Protheans were _not_ using the Reaper approach to such technology but rather their own. Matriarch Aethyta?"

"Was it Dr Liara T'Soni who brought this to our attention?"

"Indeed it was." Well prompted, you sly old fox, thought Sparatus.

"That is a reminder, if any were needed, of the benefit of pure research. Although I'm given to understand that it was Admiral Tali vas Normandy who noted the practical significance of the lack of an eezo core." The quarians present stood a little straighter.

"What, really no eezo core in the prothean devices?" – Councilor Valern.

"Absolutely. Do recall what "eezo" means – element zero. That is to say, matter as an element of atomic number zero. For non-technical personnel it is easy to forget that this is sometimes listed in the periodic table as, quite simply, neutrons – just as protons are recognized as element one, that is, hydrogen."

"You are saying the Protheans used another form of eezo?"

"Exactly. Free neutrons are impractical as exotic matter. Special techniques are required to lengthen the half-life beyond fifteen minutes. Generally dineutrons are the most conveniently attained form of element zero. But there are entirely different forms theoretically possible, such as pentaquarkium. It turns out that the Protheans on Ilos exploited this to create miniature mass relays of unheard-of range."

"I think I see. Anyone who saw the Conduit in the days when it was a monument to the Protheans can attest that there was no eezo core visible within the gimbals."

"Right, and Admiral Tali'Zorah has been pondering the anomaly ever since. She enlisted the help of the _Normandy_ AI, who analyzed the recorded energy signature of the Ilos end. It turns out that the gimbal arms generating the string border of the Prothean conduit's wormhole contained exotic matter enabling Casimir conversion."

Now it was the geth representative visibly paying more attention.

"It turns out that Prothean Casimir technology has no effective upper energy bound. Or rather, there is one, but on the order of 10¹¹³ Joules per cubic metre. How did Tali put it – ah yes, _'If I were on God's development team I'd file a bug report._ _'"_

Laughter.

"At the time nothing could be done with this, but the construction of the Crucible allowed Dr Brynn Cole to advance the technology of Casimir capacitors to the point where, as she put it, ' _large-scale gluon separation can be achieved._ ' I do not pretend to understand the significance, but the effect is that substantial quantities of exotic matter can be formed within the gimbal rings, with the result that a few small-scale mass relays like the conduit can be produced with technology available now, and if the will is present, many more later, with potentially arbitrary range."

"How does this help us now?" - that was the Admiral of the Alliance 63rd Scout Flotilla. Interesting, Hackett clearly had not briefed him.

"Councilor, if I may."

"I yield the floor to Admiral Shepard."

"First, Admiral, it will be possible for fleets on long voyages to home worlds to pause and anchor a suitable looped series of mass-relay point-to-point connections, thereby maintaining a rapid-transit service back to the citadel for small scout craft. Or even land craft, if the conduits are mounted on suitable moons."

"Ah!" The batarian representative too was nodding vigorously.

"Second, it should be clear that if we drop off conduit-style miniature mass relays at the site of each expired major mass relay, the job of reconstruction will be greatly advanced." More nods.

"Finally, it was projected that it could take decades or centuries for all citadel citizens who wished to return home. But if conduit chains are set up along the old transit routes over the next dozen years or so, it will be possible to establish a way home for most, even before the large-scale mass-relay construction begins. Councilor, I believe that covers the main thrust of the Admiral's question. I yield the floor."

General applause, and obvious relief among those present. Including the news media. Good. That was the whole point of this – how had Aethyta put it? Dog and Pony show.

"Well said. So, in the short and medium term we are planning a second wave of fleet ships with three major goals:

– first, to drop off conduit-style relays at mass relay sites, as described.

– second, to set up small colonies there for working parties to begin restoration of the major relays,

– third, to restore contact with ground colonies for different species.

– fourth, to return as many important officials as possible to their home worlds." (He silently allowed himself to hope that there they would be out of the way of those actually trying to get some work done.)

"Are there any further questions?" Sparatus braced himself.

"The chair recognizes Khalisa bint Sinan Al-Jilani…"

* * *

Thursday, July 16, 2015 -4/4-


	9. These three remain

Queen's Gambit, Book 1 - "Gone with the Sun"

Chapter 18 **These three remain**

* * *

 _The Living_

The world gently infused into a dreamless, timeless state. There was white everywhere. Puffy pillow. Crisp sheets. Glowing panels in the ceiling. Soft noises and an occasional metallic _plink._

 _How fascinating_ _. I'm still here._ There seemed to be a complete absence of threat.

Did she need to deal with the noises? No urgency. Fluffy sensation embedded in a cotton cloud. There was something very desirable about being able to drift away into something resembling sleep again. The universe had been altogether too busy for too long. She turned away from it for a little longer.

Returning to consciousness was a prolonged series of gentle dips and rises from that world of cotton wool, till at some point she felt another presence close by. A door opened and closed. Gently nudged by her reviving senses, she became gradually aware of a chair, and a person reading.

She still didn't want to move, but her eyes began reporting a coherent view of the world. Which did seem spartan and military, yet very peaceful. That incongruity sparked a wider overall interest in her surroundings.

 _Oh boy. I'm in trouble now._

A severe-looking woman, her hair pepper-and-salt, in blue-grey fatigues, was making marks on old-style paper with an old-style pencil. These were still popular on board ship and in colonies (at least where paper could be had or made), for art, personalia, or communications untraceable digitally.

Steps approached and a figure in dark clothing appeared, an older man with scars in an officer's fatigue tunic. Not an unkind face. Perhaps it was time to wake up. She opened her eyes fully and tried to lift her head. She was in a hospital bed, angled up slightly.

" _Ow."_ Fully awake now, though parts of her clearly preferred sleep.

The woman turned to look, and smiled, suddenly radiant, the dour impression vanishing. Frost leaving a Canadian window in the morning. She exchanged glances with the officer, who spoke first.

"Welcome back to the living, child. One has heard so much, yet so little, about you."

She began trying to sit up. He offered a hand, gently pulled her forward, the two of them tilted the bed up further and rested pillows behind her back and neck. Now she could sort of sit up. The officer looked back at the woman. "So. How long has trouble been awake?"

"She's only just woken, I think. Her eyes were closed two minutes ago." She showed the man her paper pad. There was a drawing of a beautiful sleeping woman, but – wait, that's _me?_ " _Oh!_ "

Way too flattering. She didn't have eyelashes like that. Her appearance – she patted her hair. It was longer, a little, it had filled out. Someone had shampooed it, too, it was puffy. Was she more blonde than redhead again? _Damn_.

" _Hannah!_ Where am I?" How original, not. "I mean, Admiral Shepard? Is this the fleet? Chloe said something about the _Orizaba_?"

"Indeed yes. Steven, there should be a chair by the bed next door. This is the celebrated Ms Hannigan. Dr Michel would like to see you… Kelly… but she's a bit busy, another doctor's in charge of you."

 _Oh no. Deep, deep do-do_. 'Steven' returned with a chair and sat next to her. She couldn't help an automatic reaction, covering her mouth with her left hand and beginning to point. Suppress that, stupid girl. "So you're – you must be Shepard's boss? You look a little different from the holos."

"I had more hair back then, and it was darker. Pictures don't do you justice either, young lady. Do you feel like talking to us? Your Doctor Chloe was able to tell us a little, John had said a lot more but it was difficult to credit, and Lieutenant Moreau threatened us with an unending stream of bad jokes if we kept you to ourselves, you will have to see him at some point."

"Jeff said that? He must be all right." Turned to the woman. "And I know you must be upset with me. This is your ship? And Admiral, this is your fleet! Why – I mean – what do _you_ want with me? I've left Cerberus. Am I in trouble again? What have I done now?"

"Whoa, whoa there." Hackett had a twinkle in his eye as he waved her worries away. "The Cerberus thing is an old story…"

That was a weight off her shoulders…

"… Some Spectres pardoned a small number of defecting Cerberus staff, including you, so you're safe from the Council, and I've ratified it for the Alliance. That's not the trouble you're in, missy…"

… Although it sounded like she still had some kind of misdemeanor to answer for, but not to a firing squad. He was smiling when he said that…

"… What do we call you, anyway? Felicia? Hannigan?"

Ack. The forged IDs, on top of ticking off Hannah Shepard. She wished she could speak to John about this. Maybe he could keep her from the wolves, if he survived. At least she wasn't facing prison, or worse. Was Hannah after her scalp? No, she'd been drawing her with some… sympathy? Maybe she wasn't mad. Was Hackett after her or Harkin? _But I'm in some kind of proper hospital, not a brig infirmary_. They hadn't really threatened her yet, and it would have been so easy.

She fell back on her father's prescription. _When in doubt, just be yourself_.

"Well, John said to make myself scarce, but _yo_ _u_ can call me Kelly."

She beamed at them. Hackett blinked, turned to Hannah Shepard. "They weren't kidding." Hannah nodded vigorously. 'Trouble' felt her cheeks burn. _Maybe a bit too much myself_.

Never mind that for now. "Admiral, I mean Hannah, I guess John made it?"

There was an immediate drop in temperature. "In a way, yes. Though, there's only so much we can do right now." Oops.

"We think once some basic issues are dealt with, we may have to cold-sleep him for a little while, till certain implant repairs are possible again."

"Oh." She felt briefly deflated, but – "So he's alive though? Can I talk to him?"

"We'll take you soon. But not to speak, dear. There is progress, but he's asleep for now, and some time to come."

Whew. By the time the shuttle had reached the infirmary, the last word from Chloe, while Chakwas stuck a needle in her and the world went spinning round, was "Stop worrying, sweets," damn woman and her sense of humor, but you never knew.

"You are among the very few who can. See him, that is, or even know he's alive. We are trying just as hard as we possibly can to keep the fact of his continued existence a secret. There have simply been too many strange things happening."

"There was some unlikely rumor about… a clone?"

"No rumor." There was a knock at the door. "Come in, Doctor" said Hackett. But it wasn't Chloe, it was Dr Chakwas. " _Karin!_ The Illusive Man's not around any more."

"I know, Kelly. Tactus would like to see you."

"Can I? Is that alright, Admiral?"

Hackett looked severe. "Perhaps, but you're in a similar case to the commander. Would you like to see _him_ , dear?"

"Please!" What was all this _dear_ business?

"Very well. Chloe tells me he'll make trouble if he doesn't see you alive and happy. I'll have her impress on him the desirability of ignorance. And Moreau… he's heard something… but the fewer who know, the better. I hope he can keep a secret."

"He can. When lives depend on it."

Hannah seemed to accept this. "Good. We _don't_ want wild stories being broadcast. Or any kind of story. At least not all the truth. I'm sending nearly everyone who might be curious away on actually fairly important stuff that happens to be far from the citadel. For a while."

"Same here. Tactus is the imponderable. He will already have told the Primarch some inconvenient tales. But I don't imagine for two seconds it would be smart to keep him out. Young lady, please do what you can to impress discretion upon him."

Dr Chakwas jumped in: "Steven. Besides Jeff, don't tell the _Normandy_ crew… yet. Most never knew Kelly anyway. Keep them so busy they stop thinking about Shepard."

"Right. They can wait a little longer. _You_ debrief Moreau, Karin. I'll have a word with the Primarch, too."

"Very well, Admiral… but in other news, Fleet Security detected Kasumi boarding a shuttle _en route_ here. Zaeed has heard C-Sec sent certain persons on patrol and is threatening mayhem. Bailey is not impressed."

"We'll speak to Mr Massani. And Bailey. Let Ms Goto think she hasn't been spotted."

"Good luck with that," said the patient. This sardonicism was ignored.

"Get Miranda to track down Kasumi, then she can see our young delinquent. I have things for them to do if they can refrain from squabbling, and by the time they get back their partner in crime can be elsewhere."

"I _never_!"

"We know, we know. Doctor, will you need assistance?"

"I don't think so, Admiral, I have a wheelchair outside."

"Very well. Hannah, with me, we have to put the fear of God in a man who doesn't believe." And _poof_ , they were gone.

"That was a bit… sudden. But they were very friendly. I was expecting… I don't know, not this."

Karin was examining her, a faint grin on her face. "They don't have a lot of time, dear."

"God, not you too, what's this _dear_ nonsense." A faint suspicion began to form.

"Ah. True. Well, it's easier when we don't know what to call you, for one thing. Here, let's get you out of bed."

She found she could stand. And breathe, but she felt a little dizzy and unwell.

"I guess I'm Kelly for now."

"As you wish."

She wobbled in front of the wheelchair and sat with a bit of a thump, _Ugh_.  
"Or, you could call me Buttercup. My disguise is clearly slipping. Why are _you_ pushing this thing?"

"Orderlies chat, and would remember you."

"So… where are we going?"

"Next stop is to see Dr Michel who for some reason demanded to be told when you were back with us. She's at the special trauma facility, but Miranda insists on calling it the Lazarus lab. Less than a dozen people are permitted entry. Chloe, you and I among them."

"Me!?" Fifty metres further, they branched off into another pristine white area.

"You'll see." They had to change clothing and go through barrier practice.

She was feeling better by now. Karin was watching with a critical eye. "Doctor, for heaven's sake, I'm not made of eggshells. I can walk." Her antennae were frantically signaling… _something._

"Very well. With me."

They proceeded through two doors. Chloe was waiting on the far side. " _Oh!"_ She tried to hug, but received a reminder of mortality. "I won't try that again soon."

"Are you feeling alright?"

"People are being very… kind."

Chloe grinned and hugged _her_. "Oof. Okay. Can I see him?"

"Right this way. Miranda and I have just finished basic work on the eyes. He's still a bit of a mess, I'm afraid. Well and truly under for some time, several weeks at least."

They entered. Miranda looked up and smiled, wonder of wonders. "Come here, you." She returned the smile, a little tentatively. "Gosh." Antennae waving faster now.

A vaguely John-shaped mummy lay in the middle of a sparsely furnished ward, the only occupant of a bed with more instrumentation than the _Normandy's_ comm board.

"Chloe, you and I have things to take care of. We'll leave you two here a while."

"Good plan." How convenient. But Miranda did not seem quite so… fraught.

She approached in some trepidation. There were tubes, silver and white wrappings. Some gold. She sat down on the other side, and looked a question. Miranda began bringing her up to speed. Why was she super-friendly? It was… nice. But disturbing.

"… not much under the wrappings yet, but the self-flesh is making progress. It's the bones that worry me. There are hairline fractures everywhere, not healing as fast as they should. But Karin thinks she has a plan. It involves an old technique with impressed electromotive force."

" _Oooh_. Well met, Dr Frankenstein." That made Miranda smile properly, with the eyes. Good. It lit her face right up. But what was happening? "You seem less stressed."

"Not sure why. I'm not safe. You could have made my life a complete misery."

This was baffling. "Whyever would I want to?"

The two women sat quietly together for a few moments in a silence punctuated only be the occasional _bleep_ of a monitor. Miranda cleared her throat. "Guess what, I've had to relinquish the primary treatment lead role here."

"Really? Any special reason?"

Miranda shrugged. "There are things which need doing. And to be honest if I kept the job I'd have to ditch my team."

"Ah. Shepard would never do that."

Miranda seemed a little absent. "I'm not him though. What he says isn't the last word."

"You don't fool me."

"No. I guess not. I received an earful about you, a few hours ago."

"Nice things?"

Miranda smiled again. "Illuminating things. They were nice, too. I'm supposed to talk to you. So you don't run off like a scared rabbit."

"That plan's a bust. I've got alarm bells going off inside. All these people being super-sweet to me? I usually have to _work_ at that. Is it because of Shep? It shouldn't be. He thought the world of _you_. I could tell."

Miranda laughed. "Him, yes, a little bit." Came around and sat beside her, swinging her legs. "Don't kid yourself, Kelly. He would have crossed the galaxy to find _you_."

"He did, I guess. But not me alone. I'm just a cupcake."

"All the more delectable. I didn't think you were real, you know. You put Brooks to shame."

"Who's Brooks?"

"One of a long series of aliases. You haven't been watching the news? Kept a clone of Shepard instead of dumping it."

"I think I heard about a clone."

"Brooks - Hope Lilium when I knew her - composed the initial list for his team, but fell out with the Illusive Man when he included aliens."

"I know _that_ name." This revelation startled Miranda a little, but she recovered:

"Well, what you might not have been aware of was that she turned out to be a frank xenophobe. Tried to substitute one Shepard for t'other. Fooled everyone, inveigling herself into the team. Overdid it, in my opinion. No-one's that sweet. Except you actually are."

"I'm not. I'm a conniving witch. I told the Illusive Man she was a conniving witch, too."

"Really? I'll get more of the story later. Set it aside for now. You've met Shepard's mother?"

"I'm so _not_ nice. I've put husks down. One Cerberus trooper on my scent. Headshots. Shepard showed me how. Even after everything I did. Where's my gun, by the way?"

"Toombs has it. He's got it in pieces and is mumbling."

"Oh my."

"Don't worry, when he gives it back it will probably take a marauder in one shot."

"Headshot, maybe."

"Wait. You've dodged the question. Impressive. I nearly missed it."

"I liked that gun. It did its job very quietly."

"Chambers."

"Now that's the Miranda we know and love."

" _Kelly!"_ Sharply, but she didn't mean it. She was cracking up. Good.

"Fine, yes, I met Hannah."

"She's 'Hannah' to you, eh? When?"

"Just a little while ago. And Admiral Hackett. Being suspiciously nice. Like you."

"She'd walk through fire for you. And Hackett would follow her."

" _Why?_ This is driving me nuts."

"My dear Kelly. John loved you. That would be enough. But that's not all." Miranda took her hands in hers. "Chloe ran tests. You're carrying Hannah's grandchild."

" _Oh."_ Pieces of the jigsaw fell into place with a clang. She put her hands to her cheeks, then over her navel. Miranda nodded.

"That's… shouldn't I have noticed?"

"Not necessarily. Not this early, at least."

Chambers thought about it a bit more. "Oh joy. And I even wondered for a fraction of a second. My contraceptive's expired."

"But you went with it anyway."

 _Not said meanly. Miranda's eyes crinkled_. "It went out of my head. We… this is hard to explain… we got ourselves into this position – don't look at me like that, I mean Shepard was sort of in a bad place, I wasn't well myself, and he'd pulled me from an unspeakable death. We were talking, in the dark, and we… lost it. My first time. I was sore afterwards, but I felt so much better. He did too, I think. His eyes looked better."

Lost in recollection, Chambers paused. "It was wonderful. Then he did it again."

"Stop it, you're making me green."

Chambers looked down at her tummy. "Well. I suppose in a few months, I'll be an exploded pocket of flesh. He's not going to want me after that."

"Kelly, that's so… I can't begin to tell you how wrong that is. Besides," and Miranda grinned at her, "with the exercises I have planned you'll be a sylph again in weeks."

"Oh no. Have mercy."

"Sorry. I have my instructions. Boss has plans. You did ballet?"

"I haven't danced for years!"

"That's not what I hear. We'll start with _Giselle_ …"

Time passed. Beeping monitors punctuated low conversation. After long and long, there wasn't much left to say. Summoning up what remained of her courage, she asked: "Can I touch?"

"Go ahead, Chambers. I do, too. Sometimes."

Kelly laid a hand on his bandaged forehead, wondering: _Shepard, can you hear me in there?  
_ –then whispered:

 _"Come back soon."_

* * *

\- _End (of Queen's Gambit)_ -

* * *

This world begins again at Arc 3: _"Grave to cradle"_

\- by the same author (under s/11385974/1/)

Friday, July 17, 2015


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